Several hundred anti-graft activists took to the streets of Malawi on Friday to protest against alleged corruption in the government of President Peter Mutharika.

Marchers in Malawi's largest cities chanted songs criticising Mutharika after a leaked Anti-Corruption Bureau report accused him of receiving a $195,000 (167,000 euros) kickback from a procurement deal.

"If the president does not meet our demands, we will ask him to step down," said Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) president Timothy Mtambo in Lilongwe. Marches were also held in Blantyre and Mzuzu.

"When we say that the president and ministers should meet us, they are not gods, we elected them and they are supposed to work for us," Mtambo said.

The HRDC has called on Mutharika to address several issues facing Malawi including corruption, youth unemployment and the protection of people with albinism.

Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most aid-dependent countries, will hold presidential, parliamentary and local council elections in May 2019.